CLOS FARMING ESTATES P/L (REC. & MAN. APPT.) V. EASTON & ANOR [2001] NSWSC 525

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : CLOS FARMING ESTATES P/L (REC. & MAN. APPT.) V. EASTON & ANOR [2001] NSWSC 525 CURRENT JURISDICTION: EQUITY FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 4378/2000 HEARING DATE(S) : 12/04/01 JUDGMENT DATE : 28 June 2001

Clos Farming Estates Pty Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed) - Plaintiff PARTIES : Graham Rush Easton - First Defendant Stephen Arthur Hibbert - Second Defendant JUDGMENT OF : Bryson J at 1

COUNSEL : P. Brereton S.C. - Plaintiff S.G. Finch S.C. & T.G. Parker - Defendants SOLICITORS : Corrs Chambers Westgarth - Plaintiff Allen Allen & Hemsley - Defendants CATCHWORDS : EASEMENTS and RIGHTS OF WAY - novel easement - Instrument under S.88B created Clos Farming Estate for vineyard of 80 small farming lots with scheme of easements and rights of way relating to water, electricity and other services. Fourteenth Restriction created Easement for Vineyard and conferred right on owner of Lot 86 owned by plaintiff to conduct viticulture and other cropping on farming lots - HELD that this was not a valid easement - consideration of requirements for a valid easement and significance of novelty in an easement - consideration of requirements for Profit a Prendre - HELD, the Fourteenth Restriction was not a right in the nature of a profit a prendre - observations on abuse of caveats - caveat removed, declaration that the Fourteenth Restriction was invalid. LEGISLATION CITED : Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW). Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) In re Ellenborough Park [1956] 1 Ch 131 Hill v. Tupper (1863) 2 Hurlstone & Coltman 121, 159 ER 51 Copeland v. Greenhalf [1952] Ch 488 Keppell v. Bailey (1834) 2 Mylne & Keen 517, 39 ER 1042 Tulk v. Moxhay (1848) 2 Phillips 774, 41 ER 1143. Ackroyd v. Smith [1850] 10 CB 164, 138 ER 68 Manning v. Wasdale (1836) 5 Adolphus & Ellis 758. 111 ER 1353 Moody v. Steggles (1879) 12 ChD 261 Clapman v. Edwards [1938] 2 All ER 507 Frater v. Finlay [1968] 91 WN (NSW) 730 R v. Registrar of Titles; Ex Parte Waddington [1917] VLR 603 Attorney General of Southern Nigeria v. John Holt & Co. (Liverpool) Ltd [1915] AC 599 Wright v. Macadam [1949] 2 KB 744 Grigsby v. Melville [1972] 1 WLR 1355 CASES CITED : London and Blenheim Estates Ltd v. Ladbroke Retail Parks Ltd [1992] 1 WLR 1278 Commonwealth v. The Registrar of Titles for Victoria (1918) 24 CLR 348 Reilly v. Booth [1889] 44 ChD 12 Metropolitan Railway Co. v. Fowler [1893] AC 416 Alfred F. Beckett Ltd v. Lyons [1967] 1 Ch 449 Bettison v. Langton [2000] Ch 54 National Executors & Trustees Co. of Tasmania Ltd v. Edwards [1957] Tas SR 182 Race v. Ward (1855) 4 Ellis & Blackburn 702; 119 ER 259 Ellison v. Vukicevic (1986) 7 NSWLR 104 Permanent Trustee Australia Ltd v. Shand (1992) 27 NSWLR 426 Corporate Affairs Commission v. ASC Timbers Pty Ltd (1989) 18 NSWLR 577 Marshall v. Greene (1875) LR 1 CPD 35 Myola Enterprises Pty Ltd v. Pearlman, (SC NSW Bryson J unreported 3 September 1993) Australian Softwood Forests Pty Ltd v. Attorney General of NSW and Corporate Affairs Commission (1981) 148 CLR 121 Lowe (Inspector of Taxes) v. J.W. Ashmore Ltd [1971] 1 Ch 545 Commissioner of Corporate Affairs v. Nut Farms of Australia Pty Ltd [1980] ACLC 34,260 DECISION : See para.[77]. Easement invalid. Caveat removed.